Tissue Gas Tensions in Patients with Necrotising Fasciitis and Healthy Controls during Treatment with Hyperbaric Oxygen: a Clinical Study

Abstract

Under hyperbaric conditions the subcutaneous PO2 in patients with necrotising fasciitis rose higher in the vicinity of the infected area than in the healthy tissue, which may be the result of vasodilatation and increased microcirculation induced by the inflammatory process associated with infection or it may be the result of decreased local tissue oxygen utilisation, or both. The tissue PCO2 values tended to rise during HBO probably from hypoventilation or reduced CO2 washout from tissue because venous blood haemoglobin was fully saturated with oxygen.